A method for cleaning a cooking apparatus using electrostatic means

ABSTRACT

A method for cleaning a cooking apparatus having heating means and support means to support article means to be affected by the output of said heating means. The method comprising the steps of disposing electrode means to be carried by the cooking apparatus in electrically spaced relation to the article means, and imposing an electrical potential differential between said article means and said electrode means to tend to cause soiling particles of said article means to move toward said electrode means and be collected thereby during the heating thereof by the heating means to tend to prevent soilage of said cooking apparatus.

e United States Patent 1 3,702,919

Candor et al. 51 Nov. 14, 1972 [5 METHOD FOR CLEANING A 2,565,454 8/1951 Mackenzie et a1 ..55/101 X COOKING APPARATUS USING 2,604,936 7/1952 Kaehni et a1 ..263/52 ELECTROSTATIC MEANS 2,762,893 9/1956 Long ..219/ 10.55

3,159,156 12/1964 Incledon ..126/19 [72] 2,846,557 8/1958 Schulze etal ..219/393 x Road, Dayton, Oh1o 45459; James 3 4 1 96 B 219 93 T. Candor, 5440 Cynthia Lane 3,41 ,4 3 l /l 8 mt /3 Dayton Ohio 45429 3,470,716 10/1969 Candor et al. ..68/4 3,602,132 8/1971 Candor et al. ..99/444 [22] Filed: May 14, 1971 [21] Appl' N 143633 Primary Examiner-Volodymyr Y. Mayewsky Related US. A li ti D t Attomey-Candor, Candor & Tassone [60] Division of Ser. No. 60,337, Aug. 3, 1970, Pat. A

No. 3,602,132, which is a continuation-in-part [57] ABSTRACT of Ser. No. 848,055, Aug. 6, 1969, Pat. No. 3,546,783, which is a division of Set. NC. A l cleamng a apparatus 701 946 Jan. 31 1968 Pat. NO. 3 470 716 heamg means and Supp means amcle whih a cominuatiorkimpm of means to be affected by the output of said heating 639 354 May 18 1967 Pat 3 means. The method comprising the steps of disposing which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. electrode means to be carried by the cooking 532,266, March 7, 1966, Pat. No. 3,330,136, paxatus in electrically spaced relation to the article which is a continuation-in-part of 'Ser. No. means and imposing an electrical Potential 5 7 Augr27, 1962, Pat. 3 75 ferential between said article means and said electrode means to tend to cause soiling particles of said article 52 us. 01. ..219/393, 55/2, 99/358, means to move toward said electrode means and be 99/444, 126/19, 219/443, 219/383 collected thereby during the heating thereof by the [51] Int. Cl ..F27d 11/00 heating means to tend to prevent soilage of said cook- [58] Field of Search ....2l9/383, 384, 393, 396; 15/4; ing apparatus.

[56] References Cited 6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,454,370 11/1948 Beubien ..219/396 X ll ll' --7oo TOI A METHOD FOR CLEANING A COOKING APPARATUS USING ELECTROSTATIC MEANS This application is a divisional patent application of its copending application, Ser. No. 060,337, filed Aug. 3, 1970, now U. 8. Pat. No. 3,602,132.

This invention relates to an improved cooking apparatus and the like.

In particular, one embodiment of this invention provides a cooking apparatus having heating means and support means to support article means that is to be affected by the output of the heating means. Electrode means are carried by the apparatus and are disposed in electrically spaced relation to the article means. Means are provided for imposing a potential differential between the article means and the electrode meansto tend to cause soiling particles of the article means to move toward the electrode means during the heating thereof by the heating means to tend to prevent soiling of the cooking apparatus by such particles. Means are also provided for creating an air movement that tends to direct the soiling particles toward such electrode means. Means can also be provided to ionize such soiling particles so that the same are more readily attracted by the electrode means.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved cookingappajratus or the like having one or more of the novel features set forth above as hereinafter shown or described.

Other objects, uses and advantages of this invention are apparent upon a reading of this description which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front schematic view of a cooking oven or apparatus of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view illustrating another cooking apparatus of this invention.

A cooking oven 604 is schematically illustrated and is generally indicated by the reference numeral 604 in FIG. 1 and can comprise an outer casing structure 700 defining a conventional oven cavity 701.

The oven cavity 701 can be provided with conventional broil heating means 702 and bake heating means 703 in order to cook food 704 or the like disposed in a suitable cooking receptacle or pan 705 and being supported on conventional rack means 706 of the cooking apparatus 604.

However, it is well known that during normal cooking operations of an oven or the like, cooking soil collects on the interior walls of the oven cavity 701 which must be subsequently cleaned.

Accordingly, it is a feature of this invention to tend to reduce such cooking soil on the interior walls of the cooling cavity 701 by utilizing the electrostatic or potential differential feature of this invention.

For example, a pair of electrode plates 707 are disposed in the oven cavity 701 and are electrically insulated from the casing 700 while being disposed at an angle so that the outside surface 708 thereof can be covered with insulated material to prevent radiant heating thereof by the broil burner 702.

A pair of collecting troughs 709 are each associated with each plate 707 and are electrically insulated from the oven casing 700.

The electrode plates 707 and associated troughs 709 are respectively adapted to be interconnected to one side 607 of the electrostatic device 606 as suitable lead means 710 as illustrated whereby one potential can be imposed on the plates 707 and troughs 709 by the electrostatic device 606 during the cooking operations.

In this manner, as the food 704 is being cooked in the oven 701, the particles thereof that normally tend to leave the food 704and splatter against and soil the internal surface means; of the oven 701 will be at ground potential and, therefore, will be attracted toward the plates 707 by the aforementioned potential differential being created therebetween by the electrostatic device 606 whereby such soiling particles will collect on and soil the plate means 707 and if a too large amount of such soiling products collect on the plate means 707 so as to tend to drip off the same, the dripping soiling products will drip into the troughs 709 to be retained therein by the potential being imposed thereon by the electrostatic device 606. v

Therefore, it is believed that most of the oven soiling particles produced during cooking operations in the oven 701 will be collected on the plates 707 so that the housewife or the like need only clean such plates 707 in a periodic manner without requiring complete cleaning of the entire interior surface walls of the oven 701.

In particular, the plates 707 and/or troughs 709 can be so constructed and arranged that the same are readily insertible and removable from the oven 701 so that the same can be more readily cleaned at the kitchen sink or the like.

Also, it may be found that the electrode plates 707 could actually comprise sheets of aluminum 'foil whereby the same could be readily disposable and need not be cleaned because the same could be replaced by new sheets of aluminum foil from the conventional aluminum foil rolls that housewives or the like utilize in their kitchens for food wrapping purposes and the like.

While the cooking apparatus 604 has been previously described as having the food 704 at ground potential while the electrode means 707 and 709 are at one potential, it is to be understood that the apparatus 604 could be so constructed and arranged that the supporting racks 706 thereof could have an equal and opposite potential imposed thereon by the electrostatic device606 being electrically interconnected to the support means 706 thereof or the like so that the soiling particles would have one potential imposed thereon by the electrostatic device 606 to more readily tend to cause the same to collect on the electrodes 707 having an equal and opposite potential disposed thereon by the electrostatic device 606.

While the above described operation takes place during a cooking operation, it is to be understood that such electrode means 707 could be utilized during a high temperature burn-off cleaning operation to collect soiling particles as the same are affected by the heating means and leave the interior surface means of the oven 701 so that the same will not be redeposited on another part of the surface means to be required to be removed by the heating operation. Thus, it can be seen when viewing FIG. 1, soilage from previous cooling operations will be deposited on the interior surface means of the oven 701 and will be subject to a heating operation by the heating means 702 and/or 703 during a burn-off cleaning operation whereby soiling particles from the soilage on the interior surface means will be driven outwardly therefrom by the heating means and will be collected by the electrode means 707 in the manner previously described.

In order to increase the amount of soilage being collected by the electrode means 707 during the aforementioned cooking operations and/or burn-off cleaning operations, means can be provided for causing an air movement between the soiling particles and the electrode means 707 to direct the soiling particles toward the electrode means 707 by such moving air. In addition, means can be provided to ionize such soiling particles so that the same will be more readily attracted by the electrode means 707.

In particular, a suitable air circulating means or fan 711 can be provided in the oven 701 as illustrated in FIG. 1 so as to cause an air circulation within the oven 701 that tends to move the soiling particles from the article means 704 or the soiling particles from the interior surface means of the oven 701 toward the electrode means 707 whereby it is believed that the majority of the air borne smoke and particles that normally cause soilage in the oven 701 will be directed by the air circulating means 711 toward the electrode means 707 so that the soiling particles will be collected by the electrode means 707 in the manner previously described.

In addition, the air circulating means 711 can include suitable electrode means charged by the line 712 so as to ionize the soiling particles being directed by the air circulating means 711 with a charge opposite to the charge on the electrode means 707 so that such ionized soiling particles will be more readily attracted by the electrode means 707 as the soiling particles are being directed thereto by the air circulating means 71 1.

While the air circulating means 711 and ionizing means 712 are illustrated as being disposed in one location in the oven 701, it is to be understood that such air circulating means 711 and ionizing means 712 can be provided in any suitable location within the oven 701 and the same can comprise a plurality of air circulating means and ionizing means in a plurality of different locations within the oven 701, as described.

Also, the air circulating means 711, electrode means 707 and ionizing means 712 can comprise slightly modified conventional room and/or chimney electrostatic precipitators suitably located within the oven 701 for the purpose previously described.

It is also believed that such electrostatic potential differential feature can be utilized in preventing soilage in a range top cooking operation while being utilized with or without the air circulation means 711 and/or the ionizing means 712 previously described. Accordingly, a. range top 605 is schematically illustrated in FIG. 2 and comprises a top heating element means 800 for supporting and heating a cooking vessel 801 in a conventional manner.

However, as normally occurs during range top'cooking operation, cooking splatter and spillage can occur whereby such spillage is normally permitted to pass through an opening means 802 in the range top frame 803 to be received in a collectingpan 804.'Sometimes the soiling products collected in such pan 804 are themselves further heated by the heating means 800 so as to cause further splattering and soiling against the frame structure 803 as well as into the kitchen proper.

It is believed, according to the teachings of this invention, that the electrostatic device 606 could have one side 607 thereof electrically interconnected to the collecting plate means 804 .by a lead 805 to impose a potential thereon which would cause the dish means 804 to more readily collect the soiling products within and retain the same therein by the aforementioned potential differential feature.

While the form of the invention now preferred has been disclosed as required by the statutes, other forms may be used, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

l. A method for cleaning a cooking apparatus having heating means and support means to support article means to be affected by the output of said heating means comprising the steps of disposing electrode means to be carried by said apparatus in electrically spaced relation to said article means, and imposing an electrical potential differential between said article means and said electrode means to tend to cause soiling particles of said article means to move toward said electrode means and be collected thereby during the heating thereof -by said heating means to tend to prevent soilage of said cooking apparatus.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 and including the step of creating an air movement that tends to direct said particles toward said electrode means.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of imposing a potential differential comprises the step of imposing one potential on said electrode means and an opposite potentialon said particles.

4. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said heating means is disposed in an oven of said apparatus and wherein said step of disposing said electrode means comprises the step of disposing said electrode means in said oven.

5. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said support means comprises interior surface means of an oven of said apparatus and said article means comprises soilage on said surface means that resulted from previous cooking operations in said oven, and elevating the temperature in said oven by said heating means to a temperature that causes said soilage to leave said surface means in the form of smoke and particles that are attracted by said electrode means.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said step of disposing said electrode means comprises the step of disposing said electrode means in said oven. 

1. A method for cleaning a cooking apparatus having heating means and support means to support article means to be affected by the output of said heating means comprising the steps of disposing electrode means to be carried by said apparatus in electrically spaced relation to said article means, and imposing an electrical potential differential between said article means and said electrode means to tend to cause soiling particles of said article means to move toward said electrode means and be collected thereby during the heating thereof by said heating means to tend to prevent soilage of said cooking apparatus.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 and including the step of creating an air movement that tends to direct said particles toward said electrode means.
 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of imposing a potential differential comprises the step of imposing one potential on said electrode means and an opposite potential on said particles.
 4. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said heating means is disposed in an oven of said apparatus and wherein said step of disposing said electrode means comprises the step of disposing said electrode means in said oven.
 5. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said support means comprises interior surface means of an oven of said apparatus and said article means comprises soilage on said surface means that resulted from previous cooking operations in said oven, and elevating the temperature in said oven by said heating means to a temperature that causes said soilage to leave said surface means in the form of smoke and particles that are attracted by said electrode means.
 6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said step of disposing said electrode means comprises the step of disposing said electrode means in said oven. 